As I exited a convenient Shell station after a defueling stop on the way to work (“you don’t buy coffee, you only rent it”), I noticed this sharp looking 1978 AMC Concord parked at the edge of the lot, and swung over for a closer look.

On this car, standard color-matched wheel covers have been replaced with slotted road wheels (likely from a Sport-trimmed Concord), but other than that this car looks to be pretty original. The T/A Radials are a period-correct plus. At first I wondered whether this was a 4WD car, but I guess the Concord just sat tall to begin with. Nineteen seventy-eight was the first year of production for the Concord, which could be powered by one of two straight six engines, or an optional 304 c.i.d (5.0L) V8 available only with the top-of-the-line D/L trim.

It’s a handsome car even to today’s eye. Dick Teague and crew did a nice job freshening up the former Hornet design on a shoestring budget (apparently the Concord’s front fenders are the same parts used on the Gremlin). Build quality seems to have been pretty high, too–the Concord bested the Honda Accord in a late-1977 Popular Mechanics survey, and the superb condition of this car certainly appears to confirm that.

An old girlfriend had one of these back when new, it was the family car. Two-tone blue IIRC.

Don’t remember how many miles were on it when the engine died…or what killed it…or why it wasn’t covered by warranty, but it was only a year old when it crapped out. I helped her dad track down a replacement 258 for the then-princely sum of $300.

We went our separate ways soon after…I to college, she to, well, I don’t recall that either.

The whole thing was about as memorable as, well, just about every car coming from Kenosha in those days.

Sorry to AMC fans. If I had to have this body style, I’d take a ’70 Hornet or better yet save a few inches and get another ’71 stick-shift Gremlin like the one I owned and loved back then.

A good looker despite it’s battleship grey paint job.Never knew this was a warmed up Hornet ,AMC sometimes pulled off some good cars on small budgets.I learn something new on here everytime,a great article Ed. I could put up with a 6 cylinder Concord,in a better colour of course!

AMC was late to the ‘luxury compact’ party. Granada was already 3 years old, and GM’s BOP ‘brougham’ compacts were based on 1968 Nova.

However, for ’78, GM had downsized Personal Lux cars, GP/Monte/Cultass Sup/Regal. This is maybe what AMC was aiming for with the Opera Windowed coupes. The Matador Barcelona was on the way out, so Concord also was their new ‘flagship’, believe it or not.

Advantage was were cheaper than GM’s G bodies.
Disadvantage, Concord was a 1970 car in 1978.

Ah, but when it comes to American cars in the ’70s, they got worse each year. Advantage Concord. As mentioned in the article, a Concord really did have the most satisfied customers of any car owners Popular Mechanics surveyed in 1977. The Concord would be a hard sell to anyone without an existing interest in AMC cars, but it was a better purchase than the stuff coming out of the big 3 at the time. Sure, it was only a 1970 compact. It’s just that the Detroit that produced 1970 compacts was a lot less afflicted than the one that was producing 1978s.

Disadvantage 1970 car in ’78? I think not . . . . GM “X” body floorpan, cowl, inner body pieces, mechanicals dated back to 1967 (Camaro/Firebird “F” first, X from ’68 on) . . . . Maverick was still around in 1977 (yes, not ’78, but it dated to the Falcon). If you think about it, VW Beetle in ’78 . . . and 1940’s car! (although much better running with the fuel injection to offset all the hang-on emission controls of that time).

I kinda liked these back in the day. Not sporty, but could be dressed up to look like a luxury-sport (like this example). Seven main bearing AMC sixes are smooth and for the most part, very reliable. Even up ’til ’82 (Motor Supply on Kapiolani Blvd, Honolulu) these still looked good as a blue two tone D/L Concord sedan caught my eye in Honolulu . . .

I kinda like it and Ive never seen one live I imagine one or two have made it across the Pacific but not in front of me, Being what looks Valiant sized it could have sold here, AMC had assembly plants locally.

Anecdotally, I can say in at least one case it was cross-shopped against a Mercury Zephyr and a Pontiac Le Mans.

In 1979, my grandfather was driving a ’71 Matador sedan, and he was ready to trade it in on a new car. He asked me to go car shopping with him (and, naturally, I jumped at the chance). The first stop was the AMC dealer, since he had been happy with the Matador. The dealer didn’t have many cars on the lot (though there were plenty of Jeeps), and the salesman only half-heartedly showed Pop-Pop a Concord. He was unimpressed. I don’t think we even took it for a test drive.

Next we went to a Mercury dealer and drove a Zephyr. Finally, to the Pontiac dealer, where there was a baby-blue stripper ’78 Le Mans still on the lot. My grandfather was a frugal man, and the Pontiac dealer cut him a deal on the leftover from the previous model year, so he drove the Pontiac home.

The main thing I remember from that day: My grandfather was a golfer, and he needed to make sure that his foursome could all fit their clubs in the trunk. I remember him opening trunk of every car and saying, “Do you think four golf bags would fit in here?”

Nice find Ed. I had the same wheels on my 1980 Concord, originally off a Gremlin X.

I forget where I’ve told this story before, but we bought the Concord for my Grandfather to replace his 1971 Toyota Corona because:
It was small
It was relatively luxurious (D/L with velllloooooour interior)
It had simple controls

I later inherited it and stupidly, I GAVE the Concord away when I bought the world’s most bondo-y RX-7, and it was still running long after the RX was dead.

AMCs were among the best built cars during their day but due to budget constraints and the desire to offer something different, most AMC cars were considered design quirks or ‘weird’ to a lot of the public. AMC really got by on their Jeep brand which too bad they sold out to Chrysler in 1987 they could have existed as a Jeep only marque and done quite well once the SUV boom hit. By 1983, about 90% of AMC sales were the Renault cars and Jeeps.

When the old Grand Wagoneer died in 1991, alot of people do not realize that the 360 in it was an AMC motor not a Mopar 360. Then the old AMC 4.0 I6 died after the 2004 model year. And that, they say, was AMC.

I dunno–I’ve read lots of period reviews that dumped on these cars’ build quality. Not so much the running gear as the fit and finish (bad window seals, water leaks, rattles, clunks, trim falling off). That said, I’ve never set foot in one myself.

There were a surprising number of these on the roads of the small Vancouver Island town I grew up in during this period. The cars sold to people looking for price and features. I recall as a teenager looking at them at Bow-Mel AMC-VW in Duncan BC and being surprised how nice the interiors were in the cars. Mostly they were bought by loyal AMCers, though. Unfortunately for AMC, most Concord buyers were driving away in their last cars. Interestingly, after all these years, Bow-Mel is still there.

Times change and now people looking for price and features, here anyway, gravitate toward to Korean brands.

I’ve always liked these things, as they were simple, honest machines that seemed to run forever. I had a boss back in the 80’s who had one of these, it just ran and ran and ran. My brother had an Eagle Sedan for almost 20 years, durable and tough, it stood up to his non-maintenance and abuse far better than anything before or since. The Honda he has now is dying a slow, awful death. It’s not going to last five years with him…

I’d really like to get one of these and swap in a SBC and have some fun with it. For the most part, no one cares about these old Concords, I can’t imagine that anyone (except the most rabid AMC fan) would mind if I bastardized one for my own entertainment…

This design looked decidedly old by 1978. There was no hiding it’s Hornet/Gremlin roots. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love a Hornet SC 360! Compare it to a new sheet of paper design like the Fairmont. Computer designed (folded paper lines, it looked it!) it was lighter and more efficient. With everything from a 4 cylinder to a V8, coupe to Squire……the Ford was NEW. Concorde was old, it even sounded like old Americana.

We had a beige low-option Concord sedan in our garage for awhile when I was a kid. I hated it. It had the 258, automatic, full wheelcovers, and a block-off plate for a sound system. The outside door handles rattled, the car was incredibly noisy inside despite a sound exhaust system, and it had lousy acceleration. It was one of the first vehicles I ever drove and the ’84 J2000 we had at the time felt like a rocket comparatively speaking.

I was surprised to learn (here) that this car was a reskinned Hornet and have to admit that AMC did a fantastic job at masking its origins both inside and out. Even parked side-by-side I see little, if any Hornet in the Concord. I think they looked even better with the four square headlights.

I think it’s because the sides of this car are so plain — when AMC slapped on new front/rear ends and padded the roof, it looked like a pretty thorough restyle. But you can always tell a Hornet/Gremlin-based car by the rake of the windshield and by the angle created by the A pillar and the roof — those two things never changed across the life of this platform.

These cars were outdated but reliable. As many articles summed it up back in the day, the best part was the solid but sluggish 258 AMC six tied to the equally reliable Chrysler 904 3 speed automatic. The rest was rather lackluster. The rear doors on sedans and wagons are really narrow hindering access. The wagons had a really shallow hatch area. Back seat room was cramped and overall the interior was not at all spacious. The seats sat low and were not at all supportive. The sedan and coupe had the smallest trunks in the segment at little over 11 cu.ft. On the plus side interiors were pleasant and fairly well put together and the 1980 introduced Eagle version of this car had an unstoppable 4WD system. On the minus side these cars suffer from the Heinz 57 syndrome with many parts shared between Ford/Chrysler and GM. Going from experience the exterior door handles are garbage and frequently break apart, the door hinges are often shot with doors sagging as much as an inch, the 258 six is a leaker of a mess due to the poorly designed valve cover which isn’t screwed down evenly on all sides with war-page often the result. The Chrysler sourced carburetors were finicky and short lived resulting in frustrating drive-ability woes and parts are few and far between for these cars.

I’d say the parts sourced from Ford, GM and Chrysler in most cases were the better parts of this car. In fact it is the reason that the parts that are available for this car are still available. I doubt things like the ignition control module, ignition, turn signal and headlight switches, ignition lock and a number of other things would still be available if they hadn’t been sourced from one of the big three. I know I’m happy that my Internationals have most of those things, and more, sourced from GM subsidiaries, because they are in-stock at every parts store.

Ahh yes – the AMC version of the Valiant Brougham. I like these cars a lot better now than I did then. The lines of what began as the 1970 Hornet have aged very well. In fact, this car seems to have taken to the Brougham treatment better than most of the rest did.

I will agree that most buyers of these were AMC loyalists. By 1978, AMC was taking on a decidedly Studebaker-ish coloration. These cars never did any one thing exceedingly well. The Mopar A body cars were tougher, the Granadas were more luxurious and the Nova and other GM X body cars were, of course, GM cars and the choice of 50% of the market no matter how attractive they were.

Still, if I had it to do over again, I might have considered one of these. One of these would have made great cheap wheels in the 80s or early 90s when their elderly original owners were finishing with them.

Sure, to an AMC loyalist, these were Mercedes-Benzes. But to average 1980 buyer, may as well be 1948 Studebakers. As above says, “The rest was rather lackluster.”

AMC blew cash on Pacer and Matador ‘colonnade rip-off’, and could only afford window dressing for Hornet/Concord. So, French Gov’t owned Reanult had to buy them out, and we got the COTY Alliance, and Premier.

Best thing to happen to AMC was Lee I. writing a check! Then, AMC could finally compete, but only as Jeep division.

The vinyl top on the 2 door Concord is a really bizarre attempt at covering up the circa-1970 back windows. It really doesn’t work at all. For 1980, AMC changed the design and, oddly enough, actually changed the sheetmetal underneath to do it. The result looks even worse.

The sedan also gained C-pillar quarter windows for 1980. That combined with the updated taillights and, on the Eagle, fully-integrated bumpers, created a remarkably modern-looking car. Thanks to unit construction, I’d argue that when this car reached the end of the line in 1987, it was still more modern than the B-body and Panther, cars which persevered for another 10 and 25 years, respectively.

AMC cars were probably more reliable over all than the big three cars and probably the imports as well. With that said, AMC never (in all its years) could shake the image of being quirky and goofy with an equally quirky and goofy customer base. Unfortunately that was the stereotype and it turned on or turned off a lot of people. GM or Ford, in all their glory, never produced a car like the Pacer. The Eagles and Grand Wagoneers ironically went on to develop very wealthy customer bases in the 1980s. At one point, I think they had the highest average income of new buyers. AMC probably could have soldiered on had they dropped the car platforms and just became a Jeep builder considering how popular SUVs were to come a decade later.

Some of you had my beige, four door, 1978 concorde, 258, with auto as kids and hated it. My Olds Starfire caught on fire on virginia beach blvd and that was that. The AMC had the best looking (IMO) and proven replacement. That Concorde got me through a tour in Guam and we sold it for high dollar when we left.

I would drive that car today. It was high geared for the freeway and I loved the 258. You can’t tell a guy that drives a cube that a concorde design is quirky. No regrets for having it.

I remember as a very young child, my parents looking at a couple of these at Campus AMC in Ypsilanti. I want to say that they liked them, but at the time were not able to afford a brand new car. Even as a three or four-year-old, which I would have been when these were new, I seem to remember them being a nice car, especially to our rusty old 1972 Impala.

And yes, I can remember things like this from that early in my life 🙂

In somewhat related news, I saw a rather well-kept AMC Eagle wagon today in my town, first time in a long time…it looked good!

I had a base ’73 Hornet hatchback – a very good looking car that drove very well. Sure, it wasn’t up to Cadillac build quality, but it was a perfect size and the hatch was very handy. Had the 232 and torqueflight 3 speed. The only quality issues I recall was the every 6 month replacement of the voltage regulator, Sears part 1487.

The Concord was AMC’s way of modernizing on a shoestring budget. If I recall correctly, they sold quite a few to traditionalists confused by the downsizing going on around them.

I really do like AMC. This is a nice car and appears to be in good shape, no rust. Just needs a nice paint job. These are rare cars, I’ve never seen a 1978 Amc Concord at a car show (recently). It would be cool to see one of these again. Nice find!!

I’ve had a 78 Concord D/L, 2 dr 258 auto in Firecracker red for 16 years. Would never let it go. It’s been off the road for 4 years, but is being prepped to get on the road again. Like any car it has to be maintained. Problems I’ve had are really just stardard wear and tear items.. The Carter BBD 2 bbl was a little trouble, but replace it with a Holley 2300, which will fit with an adapter. Starts every time, never failed me. Simple to work on, not really work but pleasure to work on. Someone needs to start building cars like this again, ya can’t stop them. 36 years old and still running like a Swiss watch.

I just bought a 1978 Concord and I love it I am a mustang person but this car handles nice and is easy to work on yourself. These old cars are hard to find and take you back to the basics. Thank God no sensors on everything in the engine and when you pop the Hood you know what you are looking at. The 400.00 to buy was the best money I’ve spent in a long time. I drive it every day while my other vehicles set. Gotta love the old car smell

Yes, bought my red, black vinyl, 78 2xr DL, for $200 in 98. I wasn’t too excited about it, but learned to love it. Good mileage, runs strong, very simple 258 engine. A set of T/A radials, and set of Magnum 500’s, and looks much better. Good Luck Helen!